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Muslim authors to discuss women and the Islamic veil

Authors Chahdortt Djavann and Irshad Manji will give joint lectures on the topic of women in Islam and the practice of the veil at 4:30p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 2) in the auditorium of the Hesburgh Center for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The talk is free and open to the public.

Djavann is the Iranian-born author of the incisive book “Bas les Voiles” (Down with the Veil), and Manji is the best-selling author of “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.”

In her talk, titled “Secularism and Political Islam: Reflections on the Islamic Veil,” Djavann will discuss the religious, social, psychological, political and legal significance of the veil, the practice of the veil in secular countries such as France, and the formation of masculine and feminine identities in a traditional Muslim society.

Manji, in her talk, titled “Women as the Key to Reforming the Muslim World,” will offer insight into the root problems confronting Muslim women today. Emphasizing that women’s rights are human rights, she will examine whether Islam fundamentally opposes women’s equality and discuss what the condition of Muslim women today means for multiculturalism in the West.

The event, which will be followed by a question and answer session, reception and book signing, is sponsored by Notre Dame’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Henkels Visiting Scholars Series in the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Program in Gender Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and Department of Anthropology.

Originally published by Shannon Chapla at newsinfo.nd.edu on October 31, 2005.